Ever wonder how some people seamlessly juggle it all? Work, home, friends, family, chores etc. The secret to productivity is organization… closets included. Simply put, life’s a whole lot easier when you’re organized. Although most of us dream of throwing open our closet doors to reveal perfectly stacked neat shelves, unfortunately, for the majority of us the reality is much different!
If you tend to find yourself rummaging through piles of t-shirts or even forgetting about certain clothing items for months on end, it may be time to think about reorganizing your closet shelves. Below are some of our favourite tips and tricks to properly organize your closet shelves. You’re just a few neatly folded blouses away from productivity!
5 Ways To Properly Organize Closet Shelves
1. Start with a closet clear out
First thing’s first — time to get a little judgy… with your wardrobe! Take everything out of your closet, fold it, clean it, iron it or even donate it. Use this as an opportunity to sort through what you have, take stock and only keep items that you absolutely love! Or as Marie Kondo puts it, “spark joy”. Be ruthless with your decision making here - this is an integral step to organized, well thought out closet shelves!
2. Decide how you want to organize your clothes
Not all pieces of clothing are well suited for shelves! Try to allocate shelves for casual pieces like t-shirts, trousers, underwear, and pullovers, while formal, dressier items should be hung to prevent wrinkling! For instance, use a hanging rail for coats, sweaters, dress shirts, dresses, and skirts… and be sure to save some room below your hanger for shoes and storage boxes. Every square inch counts in a closet!
Once you’ve decided what articles of clothing you’re going to allocate to shelves and hangers, it’s time to break it down even further! Exactly how do you want to organize your clothes? You might want to organize by colour so that you can quickly find matching items... not to mention, a colour-coordinated closet always looks fabulous! You might even consider organizing by material or function! Pick what works best for your lifestyle and needs.
3. Create an out-of-reach area for storing out-of-season clothes
Speaking of organizing your clothing by function… let’s talk about seasonal items! While you may feel overwhelmed by just how much you have, remember, you don’t need to have access to all of your clothes all at once. Separate clothes by season to help save some room. Save a top shelf for large storage boxes where you can keep winter coats in the summer and shorts and tank tops in the winter.
By separating your items by season, you can leverage more space for your seasonal items — and with space, you’ll be able to organize your clothes in a less chaotic way.
4. Adjust shelf position
If you are able to adjust your shelves within your shelving unit, we recommend adjusting based on what pieces need to be stored on each shelf! In other words, your shelving does not need to be uniform! Typically, shelves for jeans, sweaters and shirts should be about 14 to 16-inches apart to allow for a 12-inch high stack/pile of clothing, leaving 2 inches of “grasping” space. This way, you’ll be able to store clothing in smaller piles. What’s the benefit? Smaller piles means your clothes will less likely to topple over and become chaotic and jumbled. Shelving for shoes and boots may require a bit more room. Keep in mind, you should always leave about two inches of “grasping” space above each item.
5. Use storage boxes for shoes, accessories, and small items
Finally, it’s time to get into the nitty gritty! What do you do with pieces that just don’t seem to “fit” anywhere. We’re talking accessories, belts, jewelry etc. To keep your shelves as organized as possible, use storage accessories to keep items tidy. Storage boxes on shelves can be a great way to separate shoes or accessories, belt racks work wonders and shelf dividers can help you to keep undergarments in place. The options are endless! Have fun with it!
Looking to build your dream closet, complete with organized shelves? The benefit of working with a Bloomsbury Designer is that we can cater your closet shelving to suit your needs, wants and function. Whatever the wardrobe… we can always accommodate! Contact our team today!
Photos in this blog by Kassandra Arbour Photography & Rhonda Thornton
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